Kate Connor is the daughter of Johnny, sister of Aidan and half-sister of Carla. Her years in Coronation Street included a broken engagement to Caz Hammond and a romance with Rana Nazir.
Arriving on the street in 2015 in order to reclaim her stolen inheritance from Aidan, Kate began to make a life for herself in preparation for Caz's return from the army. Kate dumped Caz the following year after she became possessive over her friendship with Sophie Webster and faked an injury in order to win her back.
In late 2017, Kate found new love with her friend Rana Nazir, who was married to Kate's colleague Zeedan. The pair attemped to fight their feelings but eventually caved and Rana confessed everything to Zeedan. When Kate and Rana could finally be a proper couple they got engaged, however in 2019 before they could marry Rana was caught in a roof collapse at Underworld and died from her injuries.
Progressing from packing at Underworld to waitressing at Nick's Bistro, Kate left Weatherfield to go travelling in the far East with Imogen Pascoe six months after Rana's death.
Biography[]
1989-2015: Childhood and discovering her sexuality[]
Born on 16th November 1989, Kate was Johnny and Louisa Connor's second child, following her brother Aidan's birth six years earlier. However, unbeknown to everyone Johnny had fathered another child, Carla, in 1975 after having an affair with Sharon Donovan. While growing up in Manchester, Kate was close to her distant cousins Paul, Liam and Michelle, and Johnny became fearful that his lies would be exposed when Paul ventured into a relationship with Carla.
In December 1993, Louisa discovered the truth about Johnny's betrayal after Sharon confessed everything to her. She planned to leave him, and take both Aidan and Kate with her, but was tragically stuck by a car and killed before she had a chance to do so. Now more desperate than ever to cover up his lies, Johnny tried to persuaded his second cousin Barry Connor to move back to Ireland, in the hopes that he would take his children and Carla with him. However, when Barry and his wife Helen finally decided to leave England none of their children agreed to go with them so Johnny moved to another part of Manchester along with Aidan and Kate.
At some point Johnny and Kate moved to Spain, alongside Johnny's new girlfriend, and Kate became a holiday rep. Eventually Kate began to experiment sexually with women and, realising that she was a lesbian, Kate came out to her father, who was initially unhappy with the revelation but eventually warmed to the idea as he just wanted her to be happy. Kate later entered a long-term relationship with soldier Caz Hammond, however due to Caz being in the army the pair often didn't see each other for long periods of time.
2015-2016: Dealing with her father's lies[]
In 2015, Johnny placed £100,000 of his own money into Aidan's bank account as a tax dodge and later promised Kate the wedding of her dreams after she became engaged to Caz. Although, not long after this Johnny and his girlfriend split and she cleaned him out, taking the villa and all of his savings.
Intent on keeping his promise to Kate, Johnny tracked Aidan down to Weatherfield and both he and Kate turned up at the Underworld factory on Coronation Street to confront him. The pair were soon shocked to discover that, upon the request of Nick Tilsley, who had revealed that Carla was facing financial difficulties, Aidan had invested the full amount into a 40% share of Underworld. Originally, Johnny insisted that Aidan was to cancel the deal he had with Underworld, although Carla informed him that the money was going nowhere as she and Aidan had a contract. This led an exasperated Johnny to agree on staying in Weatherfield and helping to run the factory - until his money was paid back in full.
As she would also be staying in Weatherfield for the time being, Kate decided that she would work alongside her father at the factory, but Aidan was quick to give her a reality check, pointing out that she wasn't wanted in the office as she had no experience working in a factory. Despite Kate's protests, Aidan insisted that she would need to work her way up by starting off in the packing department under the guidance of Kirk Sutherland. Kate soon began causing trouble by jokingly flirting with Kirk to get a rise out of his wife Beth. Although, after a fight broke out between her and Beth, Kate decided that she had gone too far and offered to buy Beth a drink in the Rovers Return. Beth later accepted Kate's apology when she revealed that she was in fact lesbian.
Befriending fellow lesbian Sophie Webster, Kate shared a kiss with her as she was feeling lonely in Caz's absence, however the kiss was interrupted by Caz's impromptu return. Kate put the blame on Sophie in order to save her relationship with Caz.
Later that year, Carla's half-brother Rob Donovan began trying to cause trouble for the Connors from behind bars (having been locked up for the murder of Tina McIntyre). Rob attempted to blackmail Johnny telling him that he knew that he was Carla's real father. Johnny paid Rob £10,000 to keep quiet but this was not enough and Rob continued to blackmail him, knowing there was no way to win with Rob. Johnny revealed the truth to Carla himself who then in turn told Aidan and Kate.
2017-2019: Relationship with Rana Nazir[]
Kate broke up her engagement with Caz and later dated Imogen Pascoe for a few weeks. During her relationship with Imogen, her friend Rana Nazir developed strong feelings for her to which she confessed after Kate and Imogen broke up.
After having an affair for a few months and confessing to Zeedan, they entered into a secret relationship due to Rana's family paying Zeedan to stay married to Rana for a year, to which Rana guiltily agreed.
In May 2018, Aidan died by suicide, the news of which was relayed to Kate by Roy Cropper. Kate expressed anger that Aidan had taken his own life, proclaiming she'd never forgive him for it.
Kate departed Weatherfield in September 2019.
Personality[]
Relationships[]
Background information[]
Character creation and role[]
Kate first appeared in Episode 8746 in October 2015. Brookes' casting was announced on 20th July 2015, alongside that of Richard Hawley's as her character's father Johnny Connor, and Rhea Bailey as Kate's fiancée Caz Hammond (incorrectly named as "Tess" in the initial press releases). It was revealed that Kate and Johnny would follow Aidan Connor (Shayne Ward) to the street after learning that he had invested stolen inheritance money into Underworld. Early on Kate was described as being "a vibrant young woman full of fun and mischief". Before landing the job on Corrie, Bookes trained at the Guildford School of Acting. Her prior television credits include Oakfield, Our Zoo and Atlantis. She also appeared in numerous stage roles; That Day We Sang, The Sound of Music, Legally Blonde and Grease.
Controversies[]
Early in 2019 a controversial sex scene between Kate Connor and Adam Barlow was cleared by Ofcom of any wrongdoing after 68 viewers complained. The offending scene, aired in December 2018, came when Kate was left heartbroken when Rana admitted she wasn't sure she wanted a baby. In a bid to get pregnant, Kate shamelessly seduced Adam, with the pair passionately snogging before he had second thoughts and stopped their tryst. Viewers weren't happy with the idea that a man could 'turn' a gay woman straight, or that a gay woman will 'turn straight' after a few drinks. However, an Ofcom spokesman told Digital Spy: "The episode focused on two characters wanting different things from their relationship but, in our view, didn’t refer to their sexual orientation in a derogatory manner."
Departure[]
In April 2019, Brookes revealed she had decided to leave the show after 4 years. Kate departed during Episode 9873 in September 2019 as Kate decided to go travelling with her friend Imogen Pascoe after receiving a large sum of money from guilt-ridden Gary Windass.
Reception[]
At the 2017 National Television Awards, Brookes won "Best Newcomer" for her portrayal of Kate.
First and last lines[]
"You didn't think you could get away with this did you?" (First line, to brother Aidan).
Appendices[]
(To be completed)
List of addresses[]
Address | Duration |
---|---|
Manchester | 1989 to unknown |
Spain | Unknown to October 2015 |
15a Victoria Street | 2nd December 2015 to 16th June 2017 |
19a Victoria Street | 16th June 2017 to 19th December 2018 |
Rovers Return Inn | 19th December 2018 to January 2019 |
19a Victoria Street | January 2019 to March 2019 |
Rovers Return Inn | March 2019 to September 2019 |
Employment history[]
Role | Institution | Duration |
---|---|---|
Waitress | Nick's Bistro/Viaduct Bistro | 3rd February 2017 to September 2019 |